This month Callum and Cadyn from the SDS young Persons Sport Panel met up (virtually, of course!) to find out a little more about each other…
Callum Sloan interviews Cadyn Thomson
This month, I had the chance to catch-up with 17 year-old Cadyn Thomson, from Perth, who is one of the new members of this years Scottish Disability Sport Young Person’s Panel. He plays Wheelchair Basketball as part of the Dundee Dragons and was in the winning team of the 2019 Junior NBA Championships. He also has competed in a few table tennis tournaments, expanding his sporting horizon. As well as being an Athlete for Dundee Dragons, Cadyn is also a Club Wellbeing Ambassador for the club which plays a key role, aiming to help coaches and athletes in the club open up about their mental health and “Get the conversation started”. As well as all of this, Cadyn has been part of the Positive Beginnings program since January. This program is very similar to the Young Start program that many of the other Panel members are on. It aims to give athletes the opportunities and qualifications to be coaches or one day be coaches in order to pass on their knowledge to the next generation of athletes.
However, since November, Cadyn has been recovering from knee surgery, which has meant that he has been unable to be as active over the last few months, however, he is slowly recovering. In many ways it’s perfect timing as the current COVID-19 restrictions means that he can fully recover without missing out on any sport and hopefully by the time clubs return, Cadyn is further into his recovery. As a remaining member of the first Young Person’s Sport Panel, it was nice to have the opportunity to talk to and get to know one of the new members and since we’re the same age, we had a lot in common as we’re both at school and hoping to go to Stirling University – Cadyn to do Sports Business Management and I to do Politics and Media. Hopefully this interview has helped Cadyn settle into the panel and allow him to get to know one of his panel members better.
Cadyn Thomson interviews Callum Sloan
This month, I had the chance to catch up with 17-year-old Callum Sloan from Dunfermline. Callum is a returning member to this year’s Scottish disability sport young person’s sport panel. He competes in Wheelchair Racing completing races that range anywhere from 100m to the London mini marathon which he has completed 5 times. Although Callum has unfortunately not been able to compete since February of last year due to having major back surgery and he has been recovering well and with managing to get back into his wheelchair back in December I do not doubt we will see him complete many more races. But the SDS young persons sport panel is not the only SDS group Callum is involved in – he is also a part of the young start program which gives upcoming athletes the coaching qualifications they need to have the ability to pass on their knowledge to the next generation of aspiring athletes. As a new member to the panel, it was a great opportunity to talk to one of the original panellists and since we were the same age, we had a lot in common as we are both at school and aspiring to go to Stirling university – Callum to do Politics and media, and myself to do Sports business management. This was a great thing which really helped me settle into my role on the panel.